As I mentioned in Tuesday's post, I didn't feel up to a lot of heavy emotional work this week so I gave myself some grace around the tasks. I experimented with affirmations which I found quite emotional, repeating "I am a talented person" touched a sensitive nerve and I plan to keep working with it over the weeks ahead.
I didn't complete the Early Patternings exercise and I think that's OK. I'm sure it'd be a powerful one, but I know my limitations and think I was right to leave it aside.
One thing I've learned through this process is that it's important to choose a few lighter tasks that feel fun and energising alongside the more emotionally intense ones. Planning my ideal day is a great example of that. It was fun to imagine, and brought a lot more clarity to what actually matters to me.
I hope you'll stay with the affirmation! Saying them out loud gives them extra power, too, I love that you tried it! Affirmations were extra tricky for me for a long time but oh my how powerful they are!
I love your idea of doing the fun tasks alongside the heavy tasks, that's some beautiful balance and I LOVE that you respect yourself so much that you have skipped the early patternings task. I skipped it last year and I did it this year, and I've still only scratched the surface with it, only writing "loving, nurturing, safe environment" in very long sentences but I'm glad I skipped it last year, I wasn't prepared.
I'm going to keep experimenting with that affirmation, Mazsi. It doesn't come easily to me but it's the kind of challenging that I think will be worth it. 💕
I'm rooting for you!! I know how hard they are to do. I have introduced myself to affirmations through writing a few lovely messages about myself on a card, and putting it in my journal, and make myself read them every time before writing my pages, and it works! It was a great hack and I'm experimenting with saying them out loud, too. I have also recently downloaded an app called Mantra, and it sends me affirming notifications like 'I act in integrity' or 'I am loved and appreciated' or the like, and even just reading lovely random messages about myself multiple times a day makes me more in line with my true self. It's a free feature in Mantra, too, don't need to pay for it
I seemed to need a bit of a break from the heavy lifting, too, and some of the tasks just didn't resonate with me. Maybe I'll have to revisit at a later date in my morning pages.
I enjoyed the ‘name your dream’ and ‘colour scheme’ exercises.
I did morning pages every day, artist date was planting my seedlings in our greenhouse. It was a good feeling to see the ground turn from black empty dirt to rows of small plants.
I was wondering about an old friend over the last couple of weeks and my husband “coincidentally” ran into their son, whom he hasn’t seen in years.
It was a good week, but I found it difficult to focus on the tasks and getting traction to put my thoughts into this response even though I read the chapter and had my notes ready early this week.
I hear you, Jewel. The Artist's Way is *a lot* and we can't possibly maintain the same high energy and commitment throughout all the chapters.
Sounds like you have managed to do a lot though - consistent Morning Pages, an enjoyable Artist Dates, a little synchronicity and a few worthwhile tasks. Sounds like a pretty good week to me 💕
I often find that I'd like a bit more time to let my thoughts and feelings about one chapter percolate a little more, before moving onto the next chapter. Even with three rest/integration chapters built into the process, it still sometimes feels a little hurried. Curious if that might be true for you too? For me, it often feels like my brain has too much to chew on and can't really give the ideas as much space as they need to breathe. But as I said, that might just be me 🙃
Definitely agree with you Clare. I’m not sure it would be practical but at least some chapters feel like they need two weeks to work through rather than just one.
aaww I love this! 'It was a good feeling to see the ground turn from black empty dirt to rows of small plants.' It is so satisfying to see something grow from you've planted!
I haven't picked up TAW in weeks - oh no! A lot has been going on, creatively, and it has kept me busy. I'm not sure how to balance all of it, I feel like doing TAW requires a moment of quiet - but do we ever get those? I am a little frustrated, though, because what keeps me returning to TAW is the hope there would be something more helpful in the second part of the book, that I never get to.
Oh what I wouldn't give for a moment of quiet?! We are in busy seasons, Albe and it's difficult/impossible to make time for it all. I'm not sure if it's a question of balancing things, or rather just deciding to neglect certain things. From what you've shared, it seems that you're deep in creative work and I'm so glad that you've been able to make space for that.
Obviously I'm a little biased but I think the fact that you're still engaging with The Artist's Way through this process tells me that it's still part of your life/brainspace, even if it's not in the way you would like. I still think that counts for something and I appreciate your kind presence here 💕
Hi everyone! I'm so glad to join you!! I have stopped doing the Artist's Way at week 8 last year, and I'm picking it up where I have left off! So hello!!
When I opened my copy of the Artist's Way for this week's reading, my heart was on fire, in a good way. Like I returned to something so loving and nurturing. Even though there were parts, especially around comparing your 'failed' attempt at art with incest, like what the fuck? But the overall messaging of being kind to yourself to move forward hit a loving point that just started to shine out of me. I'm glad I'm back. I felt a bit ashamed to leave it last year at week 8 but it slowly started to dissolve.
I'm not sure how many days I did my morning pages this week, but probably 4-5 out of 7. I have a very reliable journaling practice for 2 years now so I'm not beating myself up at all for skipping days, and I also have a lot of other practices to soothe my nervous system and a limited time due to being a mom so I shuffle which one I'm including in a day. I haven't done a mindful artist date. It's hard for me still. I can call stuff an artist date something nourishing I did at any given week, but I still have a block around 'planning an artist date'.
I have done 4 tasks out of 7 and I want to tell you about the most interesting one. Task 4, where you have to list things that you are not supposed to do. Last year, and this year too, I was VERY against this as the first example is kill your boss and I have moral opposition for that but I tried it anyway. I made a seemingly half-hearted list, and picked "stealing from a shop" randomly, or rather, intuitively. And I created a scene where someone stole a hairband from a shop that did not have a tag on it and thought, okay, I can have it because there's no way to buy for it without talking to someone. And that character felt justify to do this. And I had to confront that I'm a bit like her, of course, because I made her up. Like taking things that weren't given to me in a clean way, yet I feel justify to take them? It hit hard. And I danced it out of me because I KNOW it's wrong.
Hooray! Delighted to have you join us Mazsi. I've been eagerly awaiting week 8 for exactly this reason! Lots of folks have dipped in and out of The Artist's Way, so please don't feel ashamed about that. It took me three tries and more than a decade to make it through the whole thing 😉
I'm delighted that your first reaction was so positive though: "heart on fire in a good way" is a beautiful way to say it!
I can imagine juggling Morning Pages and Artist's Dates while also caring for small humans is a juggle, so I hope you'll give yourself some grace around that. Even if you're not scheduling an "official" Artist's Date, I think your various nervous-system soothing activities more than qualify as quality time with your inner artist!
It was really interesting to read about your experience with that task, and I LOVED the punchline! We should dance things out more. I'm going to add that to my list of things to try 💕
Honoured to have you join this experience, my friend. I hope you'll find it helpful and fulfilling.
As I mentioned in Tuesday's post, I didn't feel up to a lot of heavy emotional work this week so I gave myself some grace around the tasks. I experimented with affirmations which I found quite emotional, repeating "I am a talented person" touched a sensitive nerve and I plan to keep working with it over the weeks ahead.
I didn't complete the Early Patternings exercise and I think that's OK. I'm sure it'd be a powerful one, but I know my limitations and think I was right to leave it aside.
One thing I've learned through this process is that it's important to choose a few lighter tasks that feel fun and energising alongside the more emotionally intense ones. Planning my ideal day is a great example of that. It was fun to imagine, and brought a lot more clarity to what actually matters to me.
Curious to hear how you got on this week too..
I hope you'll stay with the affirmation! Saying them out loud gives them extra power, too, I love that you tried it! Affirmations were extra tricky for me for a long time but oh my how powerful they are!
I love your idea of doing the fun tasks alongside the heavy tasks, that's some beautiful balance and I LOVE that you respect yourself so much that you have skipped the early patternings task. I skipped it last year and I did it this year, and I've still only scratched the surface with it, only writing "loving, nurturing, safe environment" in very long sentences but I'm glad I skipped it last year, I wasn't prepared.
I'm going to keep experimenting with that affirmation, Mazsi. It doesn't come easily to me but it's the kind of challenging that I think will be worth it. 💕
I'm rooting for you!! I know how hard they are to do. I have introduced myself to affirmations through writing a few lovely messages about myself on a card, and putting it in my journal, and make myself read them every time before writing my pages, and it works! It was a great hack and I'm experimenting with saying them out loud, too. I have also recently downloaded an app called Mantra, and it sends me affirming notifications like 'I act in integrity' or 'I am loved and appreciated' or the like, and even just reading lovely random messages about myself multiple times a day makes me more in line with my true self. It's a free feature in Mantra, too, don't need to pay for it
I seemed to need a bit of a break from the heavy lifting, too, and some of the tasks just didn't resonate with me. Maybe I'll have to revisit at a later date in my morning pages.
I enjoyed the ‘name your dream’ and ‘colour scheme’ exercises.
I did morning pages every day, artist date was planting my seedlings in our greenhouse. It was a good feeling to see the ground turn from black empty dirt to rows of small plants.
I was wondering about an old friend over the last couple of weeks and my husband “coincidentally” ran into their son, whom he hasn’t seen in years.
It was a good week, but I found it difficult to focus on the tasks and getting traction to put my thoughts into this response even though I read the chapter and had my notes ready early this week.
All the best to everyone in the coming week.
I hear you, Jewel. The Artist's Way is *a lot* and we can't possibly maintain the same high energy and commitment throughout all the chapters.
Sounds like you have managed to do a lot though - consistent Morning Pages, an enjoyable Artist Dates, a little synchronicity and a few worthwhile tasks. Sounds like a pretty good week to me 💕
I often find that I'd like a bit more time to let my thoughts and feelings about one chapter percolate a little more, before moving onto the next chapter. Even with three rest/integration chapters built into the process, it still sometimes feels a little hurried. Curious if that might be true for you too? For me, it often feels like my brain has too much to chew on and can't really give the ideas as much space as they need to breathe. But as I said, that might just be me 🙃
Definitely agree with you Clare. I’m not sure it would be practical but at least some chapters feel like they need two weeks to work through rather than just one.
Absolutely agree! This is a really useful learning Jewel, thanks for sharing it 💕
aaww I love this! 'It was a good feeling to see the ground turn from black empty dirt to rows of small plants.' It is so satisfying to see something grow from you've planted!
Love this so much too! I had a failed seedling experiment way back in week 1, so it always feels like a miracle when things actually grow. 🌱
I haven't picked up TAW in weeks - oh no! A lot has been going on, creatively, and it has kept me busy. I'm not sure how to balance all of it, I feel like doing TAW requires a moment of quiet - but do we ever get those? I am a little frustrated, though, because what keeps me returning to TAW is the hope there would be something more helpful in the second part of the book, that I never get to.
I love reading others' experiences, though!
Oh what I wouldn't give for a moment of quiet?! We are in busy seasons, Albe and it's difficult/impossible to make time for it all. I'm not sure if it's a question of balancing things, or rather just deciding to neglect certain things. From what you've shared, it seems that you're deep in creative work and I'm so glad that you've been able to make space for that.
Obviously I'm a little biased but I think the fact that you're still engaging with The Artist's Way through this process tells me that it's still part of your life/brainspace, even if it's not in the way you would like. I still think that counts for something and I appreciate your kind presence here 💕
Hi everyone! I'm so glad to join you!! I have stopped doing the Artist's Way at week 8 last year, and I'm picking it up where I have left off! So hello!!
When I opened my copy of the Artist's Way for this week's reading, my heart was on fire, in a good way. Like I returned to something so loving and nurturing. Even though there were parts, especially around comparing your 'failed' attempt at art with incest, like what the fuck? But the overall messaging of being kind to yourself to move forward hit a loving point that just started to shine out of me. I'm glad I'm back. I felt a bit ashamed to leave it last year at week 8 but it slowly started to dissolve.
I'm not sure how many days I did my morning pages this week, but probably 4-5 out of 7. I have a very reliable journaling practice for 2 years now so I'm not beating myself up at all for skipping days, and I also have a lot of other practices to soothe my nervous system and a limited time due to being a mom so I shuffle which one I'm including in a day. I haven't done a mindful artist date. It's hard for me still. I can call stuff an artist date something nourishing I did at any given week, but I still have a block around 'planning an artist date'.
I have done 4 tasks out of 7 and I want to tell you about the most interesting one. Task 4, where you have to list things that you are not supposed to do. Last year, and this year too, I was VERY against this as the first example is kill your boss and I have moral opposition for that but I tried it anyway. I made a seemingly half-hearted list, and picked "stealing from a shop" randomly, or rather, intuitively. And I created a scene where someone stole a hairband from a shop that did not have a tag on it and thought, okay, I can have it because there's no way to buy for it without talking to someone. And that character felt justify to do this. And I had to confront that I'm a bit like her, of course, because I made her up. Like taking things that weren't given to me in a clean way, yet I feel justify to take them? It hit hard. And I danced it out of me because I KNOW it's wrong.
Hooray! Delighted to have you join us Mazsi. I've been eagerly awaiting week 8 for exactly this reason! Lots of folks have dipped in and out of The Artist's Way, so please don't feel ashamed about that. It took me three tries and more than a decade to make it through the whole thing 😉
I'm delighted that your first reaction was so positive though: "heart on fire in a good way" is a beautiful way to say it!
I can imagine juggling Morning Pages and Artist's Dates while also caring for small humans is a juggle, so I hope you'll give yourself some grace around that. Even if you're not scheduling an "official" Artist's Date, I think your various nervous-system soothing activities more than qualify as quality time with your inner artist!
It was really interesting to read about your experience with that task, and I LOVED the punchline! We should dance things out more. I'm going to add that to my list of things to try 💕
Honoured to have you join this experience, my friend. I hope you'll find it helpful and fulfilling.